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A6RICULTURAL 
UIBABY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

Agricultural  Experiment  Station 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


THE   PRODUCTION  AND   UTILIZATION 

OF  MANURE  ON  ILLINOIS 

DAIRY  FARMS 


BY  H.  A.  BOSS 


URBANA,  ILLINOIS,  JULY,  1922 


SUMMARY  OF  BULLETIN  No.  240 

The  aim  of  this  study  was  to  ascertain  with  some  accuracy  the  amounts 
of  manure  recovered  and  applied  to  the  fields  under  general  dairy  farm 
conditions  in  Illinois,  to  show  the  common  practice  of  progressive  farmers 
in  the  utilization  of  manure,  and  to  present  data  on  the  labor  cost  of 
hauling  and  spreading. 

The  data  were  derived  from  224  farm  records  of  one  year  each  and 
involve  an  aggregate  amount  of  65,471  loads  of  manure  recovered. 

The  average  amount  of  manure  recovered  annually  was  6.6  loads  for 
each  of  the  7,161  dairy  cattle  units,  and  5.45  loads  for  each  of  the  2,229 
work  animal  units  which  were  maintained  on  these  farms.  These  amounts 
include  both  the  clear  excrement  and  the  bedding. 

With  the  system  of  manure  management  which  was  practiced  on 
these  farms,  an  average  of  thirty  dairy  cattle  units  per  100  acres  of  till- 
able land  would  be  necessary  in  order  to  provide  sufficient  manure  to  an- 
nually cover  one-fifth  of  the  land  at  the  rate  of  10  loads  per  acre. 

Approximately  one-third  of  the  acreage  of  these  farms  was  in  corn, 
and  to  this  one-third  was  applied  two-thirds  of  the  recorded  manure.  The 
greater  part  of  the  remaining  one-third  was  applied  to  hay  and  small 
grain  crops. 

On  the  farms  studied,  nearly  half  (45.5  percent)  of  the  total  amount 
of  manure  recovered  was  hauled  during  the  months  of  March,  April,  and 
May,  and  of  this  amount  over  70  percent  was  applied  to  corn.  June,  July, 
September,  and  October  were  the  months  in  which  the  least  amount  of 
manure  was  hauled. 

The  average  amount  of  labor  required  in  hauling  and  spre'ading  a 
load  of  manure  was  1.05  man  hours  and  2.19  horse  hours.  The  labor  per 
load  was  least  during  the  months  when  the  greatest  amount  of  manure 
was  hauled. 


THE   PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION 

OF  MANURE  ON  ILLINOIS 

DAIRY  FARMS 

BY  H.  A.  BOSS,  ASSOCIATE  IN  D'AIRY  ECONOMICS 

INTRODUCTION 

Dairy  farming  is  generally  considered  to  be  particularly  well 
adapted  to  the  maintenance  of  soil  fertility  and  the  building  up  of 
depleted  soils  because  of  the  relatively  small  amounts  of  plant  foods 
which  are  removed  from  the  farm  by  the  sale  of  milk  or  cream.  It  is 
usually  assumed  that  the  rest  of  the  fertilizing  constituents  of  the 
crops  are  returned  to  the  soil  in  the  manure ;  an  assumption  which 
is  far  from  the  truth  as  regards  the  majority  of  Illinois  dairy  farms. 

The  amount  of  manure  produced  annually  by  farm  animals  varies 
widely  because  of  differences  in  the  amount  and  kind  of  feed  con- 
sumed and  the  efficiency  with  which  the  feed  is  utilized  by  the  animals. 
Estimates  of  the  annual  production  of  manure  are,  for  the  most  part, 
based  upon  feeding  experiments  in  which  the  excrement  of  one  or  more 
animals  has  been  weighed  for  periods  ranging  from  one  to  ten  days. 
The  average  production  per  day,  for  these  periods,  multiplied  by  365 
has  usually  been  taken  as  the  average  annual  production.  In  the 
case  of  dairy  cows,  the  feeding  experiments  have  usually  been  con- 
ducted when  the  cows  were  producing  heavily  on  full  feed,  and  the 
estimates  of  the  annual  production  of  manure  are  probably  somewhat 
greater  than  the  amounts  actually  produced. 

In  planning  systems  of  cropping  and  soil  treatment  looking  toward 
the  maintenance  of  fertility  by  the  use  of  farm  manure,  it  has  been 
customary  to  use  these  estimates  of  production.  The  difficulty  in  so 
using  them,  however,  is  the  fact,  shown  by  numerous  studies,  that 
great  losses  of  both  soluble  plant  foods  and  organic  matter  result  from 
the  very  common,  wasteful  methods  of  handling  manure.  In  Illinois 
it  is  the  common  practice  of  dairymen  to  pile  the  manure  in  the 
barn  yard  as  it  is  produced,  and  to  haul  it  to  the  fields  as  time  and 
field  conditions  permit.  When  it  is  left  loosely  piled,  much  of  the 
fertilizing  constituents  are  leached  out  by  rain  and  melting  snow  and 
part  of  the  organic  matter  is  destroyed  by  fire-fanging.  The  tramping 
of  manure  into  the  mud  of  the  barn  lot  by  live  stock  also  increases 
the  loss. 

The  hauling  and  spreading  of  manure  upon  the  fields  each  day 
as  it  is  produced  is  one  of  the  methods  of  conservation  often  advocated. 
However,  the  injury  to  wet  fields  or  to  growing  crops,  the  press  of 

473 


474  BULLETIN  No.  240  t  [July, 

work  during  the  crop  season,  and  similar  difficulties  prevent  this  plan 
from  being  commonly  followed.  The  practice  of  allowing  manure  to 
accumulate  in  the  stall  during  the  winter  also  conserves  manure,  but 
this  method  is  objectionable  from  the  standpoint  of  clean  milk  pro- 
duction and  is  usually  barred  by  the  health  regulations  which  govern 
the  production  of  city  milk.  A  few  dairymen  who  have  a  sufficient 
amount  of  barn  room  permit  the  cows  to  run  loose  in  a  large  enclosure 
and  put  them  in  the  stalls  only  during  the  time  they  are  being  milked. 
The  manure  is  allowed  to  accumulate  in  the  enclosure  during  the 
winter  and,  as  it  is  well  packed  and  under  shelter,  little  waste  results. 
If  plenty  of  bedding  is  used,  the  cows  can  be  kept  in  a  fair  condition 
of  cleanliness,  but  the  excessive  cost  of  housing  a  large  herd  in  this 
manner  ordinarily  prevents  the  adoption  of  the  method.  Storing 
manure  under  sheds  or  in  concrete  pits  until  it  is  hauled  out  upon 
the  field  reduces  the  waste,  but  if  the  cost  of  the  building  or  pit  is  too 
great  the  saving  in  manure  may  do  little  more  than  offset  the  added 
expense. 

This  study  aims — 

1.  To  ascertain  the  amount  of  manure  that  is  actually  recovered 
from  barns  and  feed  lots  and  applied  to  the  fields  under  general  dairy 
farm  conditions  in  Illinois. 

2.  To  show  the  common  practice  of  progressive  dairy  farmers  in 
utilizing  manure,  in  respect  both  to  seasonal  application  and  to  crops 
treated. 

3.  To  present  data  on  the  labor  cost  of  hauling  and  spreading 
manure. 

No  recommendations  or  suggestions  are  made  as  to  modifying  the 
practices  described.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  the  data  presented 
may  serve  as  a  basis  for  future  studies  on  methods  of  manure  man- 
agement and  utilization  which  will  not  only  be  well  adapted  to  main- 
taining the  productivity  of  the  soil  but  will  also  be  economical. 

SOURCE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  DATA 

This  study  is  based  upon  data  obtained  from  detailed  cost  account- 
ing investigations  conducted  by  the  Department  of  Dairy  Husbandry 
during  the  eight  years  1912  to  1919.  Eighty-seven  different  farms 
were  studied  for  periods  ranging  from  one  to  eight  years.  Records 
for  one  year  were  available  on  39  percent  of  the  farms ;  for  two  years 
on  21  percent ;  for  three  years  on  16  percent ;  and  for  four  or  more 
years  on  24  percent.  A  total  of  224  farm  accounts  were  included  in 
the  study,  each  of  which  covered  the  production  and  utilization  of 
manure  on  a  farm  during  one  year. 

Seventy-five  of  the  eighty-seven  farms  were  located  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  state,  forty  being  in  the  dairy  district  tributary  to  Chicago. 


1922]        PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OF  MANURE  ON  DAIRY  FARMS  475 

The  farms  varied  as  to  acreage  and  as  to  the  size  of  the  herd,  but  the 
group  as  a  whole  was  representative  of  the  better  class  of  dairy  farms 
operated  by  efficient  and  progressive  men.  The  methods  of  these 
farmers  in  utilizing  manure  were  determined  largely  by  experience 
and  custom. 

Practically  all  the  farms  were  equipped  with  one  or  more  manure 
spreaders,  but  in  hauling  out  manure  in  the  spring  it  was  common 
practice  to  use  wagons  in  addition.  The  spreaders  were  largely  of  the 
two-horse  type,  altho  a  small  number  required  three  horses. 

The  data  in  this  study  were  obtained  directly  from  practical  farm- 
ing operations,  and  the  work  was  in  no  sense  experimental.  The 
farmers  recorded  daily  the  kind  of  manure  hauled,  the  number  of 
loads,  the  fields  upon  which  it  was  spread,  and  the  amounts  of  man 
and  horse  labor  required  in  handling  it.  Maps  with  numbered  fields 
were  used  in  keeping  the  records.  It  is  realized  that  slight  errors 
may  have  resulted  from  this  method  of  collecting  data,  but  because 
of  the  extensiveness  of  the  data,  both  as  to  number  of  farms  involved 
and  as  to  time  covered,  and  because  of  its  close  supervision,  it  is 
believed  that  such  errors  could  have  no  influence  upon  the  general 
significance  of  the  data. 

The  amounts  of  manure  recovered  per  animal  and  the  amounts 
applied  to  the  various  crops  are  here  reported  in  terms  of  loads,  the 
weight  of  which  varied  with  the  size  of  the  spreader  and  the  kind 
and  condition  of  the  manure.  Most  of  the  farmers  estimated  that  the 
average  spreader  load  weighed  one  ton.  Farmers  think  in  terms  of 
loads  of  manure  per  acre  rather  than  in  terms  of  tons  per  acre,  so  that 
for  the  purpose  of  this  study  loads  are  more  significant. 


It  is  evident  that  only  a  part  of  the  total  manure  produced  annually 
on  a  farm  is  hauled  to  the  fields.  Some  is  lost  by  rotting  and  leaching, 
some  is  tramped  into  the  mud,  and  during  the  summer  months  a  large 
amount  is  dropped  on  pastures.  This  study  deals  only  with  the  manure 
and  bedding  that  was  recovered  from  the  barns  and  feed  lots,  no 
account  being  taken  of  the  manure  dropped  while  the  stock  was  on 
pasture.  All  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  pastures  of  the  farms 
studied  were  permanent.  Many  of  them  were  boggy  or  hilly,  and 
whatever  manure  was  dropped  there  during  the  pasture  season  of 
approximately  five  and  one-half  months  could  fertilize  the  pasture 
grasses  only,  because  it  will  be  years  before  many  of  these  fields  come 
under  cultivation. 

The  total  number  of  the  various  kinds  of  live  stock  on  the  farms 
and  the  loads  of  manure  recovered  annually  are  shown  in  Table  1. 
It  was  impossible  to  determine  separately  the  amounts  of  manure 
recovered  from  cows  and  from  young  stock,  because  often  both  classes 


476 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


[July, 


TABLE  1. — MANURE  RECOVERED  ANNUALLY  ON  224  DAIRY  FARMS 


Live  stock  kept 

Manure  recovered 

Kind 

dumber 

Ratio 

Animal 
units 

Loads 
recov- 
ered 

Percent 
of 
total 

Loads 
per 
animal 
unit 

Cows       

4  762 
259 
4  279 

1.00 
1.00 
.50 

4  762.0 
259.0 
2  139.5 
7  160.5 

47  238 

72.2 

6.60 

Bulls  

Young  stock  

Total  dairy  cattle  

Horses  

1  813 
204 
423 

1.00 
1.00 
.50 

1  813.0 
204.0 
211.5 
2  228.5 

12  153 

18.6 

5.45 

Mules  

Colts  

Total  work  animals  

Sows  

2  870 

4  484 
7  247 

.20 
.20 
.10 

574.0 
896.8 
724.7 
2  195.5 

3  809 

5.8 

1.73 

Shoats  

Pigs  

JTotal  swine  

Hens  

28  333 
218 
118 
85 
62 

.01 
.01 
.01 
.03 
.02 

283.3 
2.2 
1.2 
2.5 
1.2 
290.4 

549 

.8 

1.89 

Ducks  

Guineas  

Geese  

Turkeys  

Total  poultry  

*Total  steers  

406 

1.00 

406.0 

480 

.7 

1.18 

Ewes  

796 
149 

.14 
.07 

111.5 
10.4 
121.9 

101 

.2 

.83 

Lambs  

Total  sheep  

'Miscellaneous  

1  141 

1.7 

Total  

12  402.8 

65  471 

100.0 

of  the  numbers  inventoried  at  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  year. 

2Not  kept  on  the  farms  thru  the  entire  year. 

'The  following  miscellaneous  refuse  was  hauled  out  upon  the  fields:  717 
loads  of  old  straw,  318  loads  of  clover  chaff,  90  loads  of  stockyards  manure,  9 
loads  of  rotten  silage,  5  loads  of  shredded  fodder,  and  2  loads  of  old  hay. 

of  live  stock  were  kept  in  the  same  barn.  Animal  units  have  there- 
fore been  used  to  afford  a  fairly  comparable  basis  for  showing  the  rela- 
tive amounts  of  the  various  kinds  of  manure  recovered.  One  animal 
unit  is  equivalent  to  one  mature  cow,  horse,  or  steer ;  to  two  head  of 
young  stock ;  to  five  hogs,  seven  sheep,  or  one  hundred  chickens.1  This 
method  of  computing  animal  units  is  frequently  used  in  reducing 
varied  groups  of  animals  to  a  common  basis  for  comparison,  and  when 
applied  to  the  first  two  classes  of  live  stock  (dairy  cattle  and  work 
animals)  it  is  sufficiently  accurate  for  the  purpose  of  this  study. 
Swine  and  beef  cattle,  however,  are  rarely  kept  on  the  farm  thru  the 
entire  year  and  the  amounts  of  manure  per  animal  unit  shown  by  the 
above  table  to  have  been  produced  by  them  are  therefore  not  com- 
parable with  the  amounts  shown  for  dairy  cattle  and  horses. 


1  Warren,  G.  F.,  Farm  Management,  p.  210.     1916. 


1922]        PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OP  MANURE  ON  DAIRY  FARMS  477 

RECOVERED  FROM  DAIRY  CATTLE 

Altho  dairy  cattle  constituted  only  a  little  over  one-half  of  the 
total  number  of  animal  units  on  these  farms,  they  produced  almost 
three-fourths  of  the  total  manure  recovered.  The  average  amount  of 
manure  recovered  per  cattle  unit  was  6.6  loads.  As  already  pointed 
out,  this  amount  was  exclusive  of  the  manure  dropped  on  pasture  and 
of  the  loss  which  occurred  when  the  manure  was  left  about  the  barn 
lot  to  rot. 

The  manure  recovered  per  cattle  unit  on  the  different  farms  va- 
ried widely,  owing  to  the  different  methods  of  handling  the  manure 
and  to  the  kinds  of  feed  and  the  amounts  of  bedding  used.  On  some 
of  the  farms,  a  portion  of  the  bedding  was  purchased  and  the  farmer 
therefore  attempted  to  keep  the  amount  used  at  a  minimum.  On  other 
farms,  large  amounts  of  straw  were  produced ;  and  because  of  clauses 
in  the  leases  of  rented  farms  prohibiting  the  sale  of  roughages,  or 
because  of  the  endeavor  of  farm  owners  to  maintain  fertility,  as  much 
bedding  was  used  as  could  be  worked  up  into  manure.  These  large 
amounts  of  straw  of  course  tended  to  absorb  the  liquid  portion  of  the 
manure,  and  not  only  was  a  large  amount  of  fertility  saved  that  would 
otherwise  have  been  wasted,  but  also  the  straw  was  made  easier  to 
handle  in  spreading. 

The  variation  in  the  amount  of  manure  recovered  per  cattle  unit 
on  the  different  farms  is  shown  by  Table  2.  On  approximately  one- 
half  the  farms,  between  5  and  8  loads  were  recovered  annually;  and 
on  one-fifth  of  the  farms,  less  than  5  loads. 

RECOVERED  FROM  WORK  ANIMALS 

Of  the  total  manure  recovered  on  the  224  farms,  almost  one-fifth 
was  produced  by  the  horses,  mules,  and  colts.  The  average  amount 
recovered  annually  per  animal  unit  was  5.45  loads.  Altho  the  horses 
were  on  pasture  only  a  short  time  during  the  summer,  a  large  amount 
of  manure  was  dropped  while  they  were  being  worked  in  the  fields  or 
on  the  roads,  and  this  of  course  was  not  accounted  for  in  the  study. 
The  manure  dropped  while  the  horses  were  working  in  the  fields,  how- 
ever, was  of  direct  benefit  to  the  tillable  land. 

The  variation  in  the  amount  of  manure  recovered  from  the  work 
animals  on  the  different  farms  is  shown  by  Table  2.  On  half  the  farms 
the  average  amount  recovered  per  animal  unit  was  between  4  and  7 
loads. 

RECOVERED  FROM  OTHER  SOURCES 

The  manure  produced  by  the  hogs,  steers,  sheep  and  poultry  on 
these  farms  constituted  7.5  percent  of  the  total  amount  recovered. 
In  addition,  1,141  loads  of  rotten  straw,  silage,  clover  chaff,  and  sim- 
ilar refuse  were  hauled  which  were  not,  strictly  speaking,  manure,  but 


478 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


[July, 


TABLE   2. — SHOWING  How  THE  AMOUNT   OF   MANURE   RECOVERED   ANNUALLY, 
PER  ANIMAL  UNIT,  VARIED  AMONG  THE  224  DAIRY  FARMS 


Manure  recovered  per 
dairy  cattle  unit 

Number 
of  farms 

Manure  recovered  per 
work  animal  unit 

Number 
of  farms 

Less  than  1  load 

6 

Less  than  1  load  

2 

1  to    2  loads                 

7 

1  to    2  loads  

4 

2  to    3  loads                 

6 

2  to    3  loads  

16 

3  to    4  loads                 

7 

3  to    4  loads  

19 

4  to    5  loads 

23 

4  to    5  loads  

38 

5  to    6  loads               .... 

36 

5  to    6  loads  

43 

6  to    7  loads 

40 

6  to    7  loads  

28 

7  to    8  loads 

33 

7  to    8  loads  

29 

8  to    9  loads 

22 

8  to    9  loads  

18 

9  to  10  loads                 

18 

9  to  10  loads  

10 

10  to  11  loads 

7 

10  to  11  loads  

6 

11  to  12  loads 

9 

11  to  12  loads  

2 

12  to  13  loads 

12  to  13  loads     .  ,  <  

2 

13  to  14  loads 

2 

13  to  14  loads.  

4 

14  to  15  loads 

3 

14  to  15  loads  

1 

15  to  16  loads 

1 

15  to  16  loads  

1 

16  to  17  loads 

1 

16  to  17  loads  

17  to  18  loads 

1 

17  to  18  loads  

_ 

18  to  19  loads 

18  to  19  loads  

_ 

19  to  20  loads  

19  to  20  loads  

_ 

20  to  21  loads     . 

1 

20  to  21  loads  

1 

21  to  22  loads  

1 

such  materials  have  been  here  included  because  the  data  do  not  permit 
the  separation  of  the  labor  of  hauling  them  from  the  labor  of  hauling 
the  animal  manure. 


POSSIBLE  RATES  OF  APPLYING  MANURE 

It  is  evident  that  in  planning  a  system  of  permanent  soil  produc- 
tivity, the  number  of  cattle  necessary  to  furnish  sufficient  manure  to 
carry  out  the  manurial  program  must  be  based  upon  the  probable 
amount  that  will  be  recovered  and  not  upon  the  total  production  cal- 
culated from  experimental  data.  In  order  to  determine  the  frequency 
with  which  the  tillable  land  could  have  been  manured  on  these  farms 
having  different  numbers  of  cows,  the  224  farms  were  divided  into 
seven  groups  on  the  basis  of  the  number  of  crop  acres  in  the  farm 
(exclusive  of  pasture)  for  each  cattle  unit.  Consideration  is  here 
directed  only  to  the  manure  recovered  from  the  dairy  cattle,  the 
amounts  of  manure  recovered  from  other  sources  being  in  no  way  re- 
lated to  the  number  of  cattle  kept. 

Fourteen  of  these  farms,  as  shown  by  Table  3,  had  less  than  two 
crop  acres  for  each  cattle  unit.  The  maintenance  of  so  many  cows 
on  this  basis  was  possible  because  of  the  large  amount  of  pasture  in 
these  farms,  less  than  half  of  the  total  acreage  being  under  cultivation. 
The  average  amount  of  cow  manure  recovered  annually  in  this  group 
was  279  loads  per  farm,  or  3.37  loads  per  crop  acre.  If  none  of  this 
manure  had  been  applied  to  pasture,  each  acre  under  cultivation  could 


PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OP  MANURE  ox  DAIRY  FARMS 


479 


have  been  treated  with  10  loads  of  manure  every  three  years.  Had 
the  amount  of  manure  recovered  on  these  fourteen  farms  been  as  high 
as  the  average  amount  recovered  on  all  the  farms  studied  (6.6  loads 
per  cattle  unit) ,  one-third  of  the  tillable  land  could  have  been  manured 
each  year  at  the  rate  of  13  loads  per  acre.  These  fourteen  farms,  with 
relatively  large  numbers  of  cows  and  small  crop  acreages,  did  not 
produce  so  great  a  surplus  of  straw  for  bedding  as  did  the  farms  which 
were  less  heavily  stocked,  and  this  accounts  to  a  large  extent  for  the 
smaller  amount  of  manure  recovered  per  cattle  unit. 

TABLE  3. — RELATION  BETWEEN  THE  NUMBER  OP  DAIRY  CATTLE  UNITS  PER  100 
CROP  ACRES  AND  THE  AMOUNT  OF  MANURE  RECOVERED 


Group 

Crop  acres 
per  cattle 
unit 

Number 
of 
farms 

Average  number 
of  cattle  units 

Loads  of  manure  recovered 
annually  from  dairy  cattle 

Per 
farm 

Per  100 
crop 
acres 

Per 
crop 
acre 

Per 

cattle 
unit 

Per 
farm 

I.  . 

1-1.9 
2-2.9 
3-3.9 
4-4.9 
5-5.9 
6-6.9 
7-  over 

14 
49 
51 
40 
18 
13 
39 

53.7 
46.0 
34.5 
25.2 
22.4 
16.7 
19.4 

65 
41 
29 
22 
18 
16 
7 

3.37 
2.68 
2.09 
1.54 
1.47 
1.05 
.37 

5.2 
6.5 
7.2 
6.9 
8.0 
6.6 
5.7 

279 
304 
247 
173 
178 
111 
110 

II.  

Ill  

IV  

V... 

VI  

VII  

In  the  succeeding  groups  of  farms  the  loads  of  manure  recovered 
per  crop  acre  decrease  rather  uniformly  as  the  crop  acres  per  cattle 
unit  increase.  The  last  group,  consisting  of  39  farms,  averaged  15.3 
crop  acres  per  cattle  unit,  and  the  amount  of  manure  recovered  was  so 
small  (.37  loads  per  crop  acre)  that  22  years  would  have  been  required 
to  cover  all  of  the  tillable  land  at  the  rate  of  8  loads  per  acre. 

Having  some  basis  for  knowing  the  average  amount  of  manure 
likely  to  be  recovered  per  dairy  cattle  unit  under  common  farm  prac- 
tice, it  becomes  a  simple  matter,  in  planning  a  cropping  system,  to 
compute  the  number  of  cows,  or  their  equivalent,  that  will  be  required 
to  provide  sufficient  manure  for  any  desired  rate  of  application.  Table 
4  gives  a  number  of  such  calculations.  For  instance,  if  the  proposed 
system  called  for  an  application  of  10  loads  of  manure  per  acre  during 
a  four-year  rotation,  according  to  the  data  supplied  by  this  study  38 
cows  or  their  equivalent,  per  100  crop  acres,  would  be  required.  From 
these  data,  also,  the  possible  rates  of  applying  manure  may  be  calcu- 
lated if  the  number  of  dairy  cattle  units  per  acre  is  known.  For 
instance,  a  farmer  having  30  cows,  or  their  equivalent,  for  each  100 
crop  acres  would  have  sufficient  manure  to  annually  cover  one-third  of 
his  crop  land  at  the  rate  of  6  loads  per  acre.  If  he  favored  heavier 
applications  he  could  manure  one-fourth  of  his  tillable  land  at  the  rate 
of  8  loads  per  acre,  or  one-fifth  at  the  rate  of  10  loads  per  acre,  or 
one-sixth  at  the  rate  of  12  loads  per  acre. 


480 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


[July, 


It  is  apparent  that  the  relatively  small  amount  of  manure  recovered 
per  cattle  unit  (6.6  loads)  was  due,  in  part,  to  the  wasteful  methods 
of  handling,  but  so  long  as  these  methods  are  the  common  practice 
they  must  be  taken  into  account  in  planning  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  fertility  of  the  soil  by  the  use  of  farm  manure. 

TABLE  4. — NUMBER  OF  DAIRY  CATTLE  UNITS  PER  100  CROP  ACRES  REQUIRED 

FOR  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  SUFFICIENT  MANURE  TO  BE  APPLIED 

AT  VARIOUS  RATES  AND  INTERVALS 

Figured  on  the  Basis  of  6.6  Loads  of  Manure  per  Cattle  Unit  being  Recovered 

Annually 


Frequency  of 
manuring 

6  loads  per 
crop  acre 

8  loads  per 
crop  acre 

10  loads  per 
crop  acre 

12  loads  per 
crop  acre 

Every  3  years  

Cattle  units 
30 

Cattle  units 
40 

Cattle  units 
51 

Cattle  units 
61 

Every  4  years  

23 

30 

38 

45 

Every  5  years  

18 

24 

30 

36 

Every  6  years  

15 

20 

25 

30 

Every  7  years  

13 

17 

22 

26 

Every  8  years  

11 

15 

19 

23 

Every  9  years  

10 

13 

17 

20 

Every  10  years  

9 

12 

15 

18 

CROPS  MANURED 

In  classifying  the  disposal  of  the  manure,  the  crop  which  first  fol- 
lowed the  application  of  manure  to  a  field  is  recorded  as  having  been 
the  crop  manured.  This  crop  may  have  been  grown  the  same  year  in 
which  the  application  was  made,  or  it  may  have  been  grown  the  fol- 
lowing year  if  the  field  was  manured  in  the  fall.  Manure  applied  in 
midsummer,  after  the  removal  of  a  grain  crop,  is  listed  as  having  been 
applied  for  the  crop  grown  in  the  field  the  next  year. 

The  disposal  of  5,093  loads  of  manure,  or  8.09  percent  of  the  total 
amount  hauled,  is  classed  as  "unknown."  The  amount  and  kind  of 
this  "unknown"  manure,  the  season  it  was  hauled,  and  the  man  and 
horse  labor  used  in  handling  it  have  been  included  in  the  data,  but  the 
crops  which  utilized  the  manure  were  not  recorded.  The  absence  of 
this  part  of  the  record  for  the  "unknown"  manure  is  largely  due  to 
the  fact  that  during  the  eight-year  period  covered  by  this  study  a 
number  of  the  cost  accounts  were  discontinued  and  for  these  farms  the 
records  are  incomplete  as  to  the  crops  utilizing  the  manure  that  was 
applied  in  the  autumn  and  winter  preceding  the  spring  in  which  the 
accounts  were  dropped. 

Table  5  shows  the  aggregate  amount  of  manure  applied  to  each 
crop  on  the  224  farms.  There  was  hauled  to  the  fields  a  total  of  62,884 
loads.  The  difference  between  this  amount  and  the  total  amount 
recorded  in  Table  1  is  due  to  the  difference  in  the  amounts  of  unhauled 
manure  inventoried  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  end  of  the  year. 


1922]        PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OF  MANURE  ON  DAIRY  FARMS 


481 


TABLE  5. — TOTAL  MANURE  HAULED  ANNUALLY  ON  224  DAIRY  FARMS  AND  THE 

CROPS  RECEIVING  IT 


Crop  manured 

Loads 

Percent  of 
total 

Corn            

37  641 

59.86 

Alfalfa 

4  154 

6.61 

Timothy  

2  651 

4.22 

Wheat   

2  589 

4.12 

Clover        

2  575 

4.09 

Pasture  

2  572 

4.09 

Rye     

1  205 

1.92 

Oats  

976 

1.55 

Garden  

805 

1.28 

Clover  and  timothy.  .  . 
Potatoes  

699 
623 

1.11 
.99 

Barley  

362 

.58 

Cowpeas  .•  

331 

.53 

Melons  

218 

.35 

Orchard  

208 

.33 

Soybeans  

103 

.16 

Beets  

29 

.05 

Strawberries  

25 

.04 

Sudan  grass  

15 

.02 

Sorghum  

7 

.01 

Pumpkins  

3 

Unknown  

5  093 

8.09 

Total  

62  884 

100.00 

Three-fifths  of  the  total  manure  hauled  was  applied  to  corn  land. 
This  was  over  nine  times  as  much  as  was  applied  to  any  other  crop. 
Altho  alfalfa  received  the  next  largest  amount,  that  amount  was  but 
one-sixteenth  of  the  total  manure  hauled.  Timothy,  wheat,  clover,  and 
pastures  each  received  approximately  one-twenty-fifth  of  the  total 
amount  of  manure.  The  other  5,609  loads  for  which  there  are  rec- 
ords were  distributed  in  varying  amounts  among  fifteen  different  crops, 
no  one  of  which  received  as  much  as  2  percent  of  the  total  manure. 


EELATIVE  ACREAGE  OCCUPIED  BY  THE  VARIOUS  CROPS 

The  proportion  of  the  manure  which  was  applied  to  each  of  the 
various  crops  would  have  greater  significance  if  the  relative  acreages  of 
these  crops  were  known.  Because  of  the  fact  that  manure  applied  in 
the  spring  was  utilized  by  the  crops  of  one  year,  and  manure  applied 
in  the  autumn  and  winter  was  utilized  by  the  crops  of  the  following 
year,  the  exact  acreage  of  the  crops  manured  could  not  be  determined. 
However,  the  acreage  of  the  crops  grown  during  the  year  in  which 
the  manure  was  hauled  (Table  6)  represents  fairly  accurately  the  rela- 
tive areas  of  the  crops  receiving  manure,  since  85  percent  of  the  records 
are  from  farms  which  were  included  in  the  study  for  two  or  more  con- 
secutive years. 


482 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


[July, 


Corn  was  grown  on  almost  one-third  of  the  total  area  of  these  224 
dairy  farms.  The  pasture  acreage  was  practically  the  same  as  that  of 
corn  (30.81  percent  of  the  total  area).  The  oats  crop  ranked  third 
in  respect  to  acreage  (11.26  percent),  and  wheat  ranked  fourth  (7.27 
percent).  Timothy,  clover,  and  alfalfa  came  next,  occupying  4.58 
percent,  3.11  percent,  and  2.92  percent  respectively  of  the  total  acreage. 
On  the  remaining  area  (8.60  percent)  twenty  miscellaneous  crops  were 
grown. 


TABLE  6.—' 


Crop 

Acres 

Percent  of 
total 

Corn  

14  719 

31.45 

Pasture    

14  420 

30  81 

Oats  

5  267 

11  26 

Wheat  

3  403 

7  27 

Timothy  

2  145 

4  58 

Clover  

1  456 

3  11 

Alfalfa  

1  366 

2  92 

Barley  

954 

2  04 

Rye                       ..... 

849 

1  81 

Clover  and  timothy.  .  . 
Orchard  

481 
419 

1.03 
90 

Cowpeas  

375 

.80 

Garden  

151 

32 

Potatoes  

147 

31 

Millet  

114 

.25 

Strawberries  

105 

23 

Wild  hay  

100 

21 

Oats  and  peas  

94 

.20 

Soybeans  

81 

.17 

Melons  .... 

49 

11 

Vetch  

30 

.07 

Sudan  grass  

23 

.05 

Buckwheat  

23 

.05 

Sorghum  

15 

.03 

Beets  

8 

.02 

Pumpkins  

1 

Sunflowers  

1 

Total  

46  796 

100.00 

METHODS  OF  UTILIZING  MANURE 

In  order  to  better  study  the  practices  of  these  farmers  in  regard 
to  manuring  the  different  crops,  the  data  in  Tables  5  and  6  have  been 
summarized  in  Table  7  and  are  shown  graphically  in  Fig.  1.  In  this 
table  the  5,093  loads  of  manure  classed  as  "unknown"  have  been 
omitted  in  calculating  the  proportion  of  the  total  manure  which  was 
applied  to  the  various  crops. 

Altho  corn  land  constituted  only  31.5  percent  of  the  total  crop 
acreage,  the  corn  crop  received  65.1  percent  of  all  the  manure  hauled 
exclusive  of  the  "unknown"  manure  (Table  7).  In  Table  8  is  shown 


1922] 


PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OF  MANURE  ON  DAIRY  FARMS 


483 


TABLE  7. — MANURE  HAULED  ANNUALLY  FOR  EACH  CROP  AND  THE  AGGREGATE 
ACREAGE  OF  EACH  CROP  ON  THE  224  DAIRY  FARMS 


Crops  grown 

Manure  hauled 

Acreage  of  each  crop 

Loads  of 
manure 
per  acre 

Loads 

Percent 
of  total 

Acres 

Percent 
of  total 
area 

Corn  

37  641 
10  528 
5  132 
2  572 
1  038 
623 
257 

65.1 
18.2 
8.9 
4.5 
1.8 
1.1 
.4 

14  719 
5  927 
10  473 
14  420 
675 
147 
435 

31.5 
12.7 
22.4 
30.8 
1.4 
.3 
.9 

2.56 
1.78 
.49 
.18 
1.54 
4.24 
.59 

Hay  

Small  grains  

Pasture  

Orchard  and  garden.  .  .  . 
Potatoes  

Miscellaneous  

Total  (exclusive  of 
unknown)  

57  791 

100.0 

46  796 

100.0 

Unknown  

5  093 

Total  

62  884 

the  variation  among  the  different  farms  in  the  proportion  of  manure 
which  was  applied  to  corn  land.  Since  the  choice  of  crops  to  be 
manured  was  a  matter  of  judgment  with  the  individual  farmer,  the 
inclusion  of  eight  years'  records  of  one  farmer  and  only  one  year's 
records  of  another,  would,  of  course,  give  undue  weight  to  the  method 
of  the  farmer  having  the  greater  number  of  records.  Where  records 
for  more  than  one  year  were  available,  an  average  was  therefore  taken 
for  the  entire  period  so  that  equal  weight  was  given  to  the  practice 
of  each  of  the  eighty-seven  different  farmers  included  in  the  study. 
Approximately  one-third  of  these  eighty-seven  farmers  applied  from 
80  to  100  percent  of  the  manure  to  their  corn,  and  three-fourths  of 
them  applied  more  than  50  percent  to  the  corn. 

The  various  hay  crops,  including  timothy,  clover,  alfalfa,  mixed 
hay,  cowpeas,  millet,  vetch,  etc.,  constituted  12.7  percent  of  the  total 
acreage  (Table  7).  The  manure  applied  to  these  crops  amounted  to 
10,528  loads,  or  18.2  percent  of  the  total  known  manure.  It  was  the 
usual  practice  of  the  farmers  who  applied  manure  to  meadows  to 
follow  a  hay  crop  with  corn.  This  gave  the  hay  the  benefit  of  the 
manure  the  first  year,  and  gave  the  corn,  which  followed,  the  benefit 
of  both  the  residual  effect  of  the  manure  and  the  increased  growth 
of  roots  and  stubble  left  from  the  hay  crop.  In  Table  8  there  is 
shown  the  variation  among  the  different  farms  in  the  proportion  of 
manure  which  was  applied  to  the  hay  crops.  Over  one-half  of  these 
farmers  applied  less  than  20  percent  of  the  manure  to  hay  ground; 
three-fourth  applied  less  than  30  percent ;  and  only  four  applied  as 
much  as  80  percent. 

The  small  grains  (wheat,  oats,  barley,  and  rye)  almost  doubled  hay 
in  acreage,  but  they  received  less  than  half  as  much  manure  as  did 
the  hay  crops.  Three-fourths  of  the  farmers  applied  less  than  10 


484 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


[July, 


TABLE  8. — SHOWING  How  THE  PRACTICES  OF  THE  87  DAIRY  FARMERS  VARIED  IN 
RESPECT  TO  THE  PROPORTION  OF  MANURE  APPLIED  TO  THE  VARIOUS  CROPS 


Percentage  of 
total  manure 
applied  to 
corn 

Number 
of   farms 

Percentage  of 
total  manure 
applied  to 
hay 

Number 
of   farms 

Percentage  of 
total  manure 
applied  to 
small  grains 

Number 
of   farms 

Less  than  10%.  .  . 
10  to  20%  

2 

6 

Less  than  10%..  . 
10  to  20%  

36 
12 

Less  than  10%.  . 
10  to  20%  

66 
15 

20  to  30%  

3 

20  to  30%  

17 

20  to  30%  

2 

30  to  40%  

3 

30  to  40%  

9 

30  to  40%  

1 

40  to  50% 

9 

40  to  50%  

6 

40  to  50%  

3 

50  to  60% 

8 

50  to  60%     .      .  . 

2 

50  to  60%  

60  to  70%  

13 

60  to  70%  

1 

60  to  70%  

_ 

70  to  80%  

15 

70  to  80%  

70  to  80%  



80  to  90% 

15 

80  to  90%  

3 

80  to  90%  



90  to  100%  

13 

90  to  100%  

1 

90  to  100%  

- 

percent  of  the  manure  to  small  grains,  and  none  of  them  applied 
more  than  45  percent. 

Pastures  constituted  30.8  percent  of  total  farm  area,  but  they 
received  only  2,572  loads,  or  4.5  percent  of  the  total  manure.     This 


Per- 
cent 


Percentage  off 
total  manure  f 


Percentage  of  E 
total  acreage  | 


Corn 


Hay 


.Small 
Groin 


Pasture         Orchard 
and  Garden 


Potatoes       Miscellaneous 


FIG.  1. — EELATIVE  ACREAGES  OF  THE  VARIOUS  CROPS,  AND  THE  PROPORTION  OF 
THE  TOTAL  MANURE  APPLIED  TO  EACH 


19SS2] 


PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OF  MANURE  ON  DAIRY  FARMS 


485 


was,  of  course,  exclusive  of  the  manure  dropped  while  the  live  stock 
was  on  pasture.  Probably  the  chief  reason  that  pastures  received 
even  this  much  manure  was  their  accessibility  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year.  When  growing  crops  or  muddy  ground  prevented  manure  from 
being  hauled  upon  other  fields,  the  pastures  offered  a  convenient  place 
for  its  disposal. 

The  acreages  in  orchards  and  gardens  and  in  potatoes  and  the 
amounts  of  manure  hauled  upon  them  have  been  grouped  separately 
merely  to  show  the  relatively  heavy  application  of  manure  to  these 
crops. 

SEASONAL  APPLICATION  OF  MANURE 

The  amount  of  manure  applied  during  the  different  months  to 
corn,  hay,  small  grains,  pasture,  miscellaneous  crops,  and  to  those 
fields  for  which  there  were  no  records  of  the  crops,  is  shown  by  Table  9 
and  Fig.  2.  As  would  be  expected,  the  least  amount  of  manure  was 
applied  in  June  (1,857  loads)  and  but  very  little  more  was  applied  in 
July.  •  It  is  during  these  two  months  that  field  work  is  heaviest,  much 
of  the  live  stock  is  on  pasture,  and  all  the  spring-sown  crops  are  too 
far  advanced  to  permit  the  hauling  of  the  manure  upon  the  fields  with- 
out doing  the  crop  injury.  The  amount  applied  to  pasture,  however, 
during  June,  was  greater  than  in  any  other  month.  This  was  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  fields  devoted  to  crops  are  not  accessible  at 
this  time. 


TABLE  9. — LOADS  OF  MANURE  APPLIED  MONTHLY  TO  THE  VARIOUS  CROPS  ON 

THE  224  DAIRY  FARMS 


Percent 

Month 

Corn 

Hay 

Small 
grain 

Pas- 
ture 

Mis- 
cella- 
neous 

Un- 
known 

Total 
for  the 
month 

of 
total 
for 

year 

January  

3  198 

802 

294 

97 

32 

355 

4  778 

7  6 

February  

3  188 

952 

519 

144 

139 

578 

5  520 

8  8 

March  

5  546 

1  183 

460 

278 

372 

456 

8  295 

13  2 

April  

8  339 

1  386 

626 

320 

708 

201 

11  580 

18  4 

May  

6  447 

782 

255 

431 

306 

490 

8  711 

13  9 

June  

776 

237 

79 

495 

71 

199 

1  857 

3  0 

July  

585 

712 

287 

190 

24 

425 

2  223 

3  5 

August  

1  785 

1  440 

1  084 

265 

11 

778 

5  363 

8  5 

September.  .  .  . 

1  303 

672 

507 

23 

55 

287 

2  847 

4.5 

October  

1  185 

603 

169 

76 

15 

426 

2  474 

3  9 

November  

2  246 

863 

367 

150 

92 

527 

4  245 

6.8 

December  

3  043 

896 

485 

103 

93 

371 

4  991 

7.9 

Total  for  the 

year  

37  641 

10  528 

5  132 

2  572 

1  918 

5  093 

62  884 

100.0 

Percent  of  total 

59.9 

16.7 

8.2 

4.1 

3.0 

8.1 

100.0 

486 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


[July, 


Unknown 
Miscellaneous 
Pasture 
Small  Grain 
Hau 


Jan.    Feb.    Mar.    /April    Majj    June  JuKj    Aucj.   Jept.  Oct.     Nov    Dec 


FIG.  2. — AMOUNTS  OF  MANURE  APPLIED  TO  THE  VARIOUS  CROPS  DURING  THE 
DIFFERENT  MONTHS  OF  THE  YEAR 

The  amount  of  manure  hauled  during  August  (5,363  loads)  was 
almost  three  times  as  great  as  was  hauled  during  June.  Much  of  this 
was  spread  upon  wheat  and  oat  stubble,  which  had  been  seeded  in  the 
spring  to  clover,  alfalfa,  or  timothy ;  and  hence  the  manure  so  applied 
was  listed  under  hay  crops.  The  1,785  loads  which  were  applied  to 
corn  ground  during  August  were  hauled  largely  on  hay  stubble. 
Winter  wheat  and  rye  were  the  two  crops  which  received  most  of  the 
manure  applied  to  small  grains  during  this  month. 

From  September  until  the  peak  was  reached  in  April,  the  amount 
of  manure  applied  to  the  various  crops  tended  to  increase  rather  uni- 
formly. .During  the  latter  month  11,580  loads  of  manure  were  hauled, 
8,339  of  which  were  applied  to  corn.  During  May,  6,447  loads  of 
manure  were  applied  to  corn  land  despite  the  fact  that  corn  was 
usually  planted  about  the  middle  of  May  on  the  farms  studied.  After 
corn  is  planted,  manure  hauling  is  practically  discontinued  for  two  or 
three  months  on  most  farms  because  of  the  relatively  large  amount  of 
labor  which  is  required  for  field  work. 


1928]        PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OF  MANURE  ON  DAIRY  FARMS 


487 


LABOR  COST  OF  HAULING  MANURE 

On  the  farms  studied  the  average  amount  of  man  labor  required  in 
hauling  and  spreading  one  load  of  manure  was  1.05  hours  (this  does 
not  include  the  labor  of  cleaning  the  barn) .  The  time  consumed  varied 
from  month  to  month,  and  tended  to  be  highest  in  the  months  when 
the  least  amount  of  manure  was  hauled  and  lowest  in  the  months  when 
the  most  manure  was  hauled.  Fig.  3  shows  graphically  the  relation 
between  the  number  of  loads  of  manure  hauled  during  the  different 
months  and  the  amounts  of  man  and  horse  labor  used  per  load.  The 
total  man  and  horse  labor  used  each  month  and  the  variation  in  the 
time  per  load  is  shown  in  Table  10.  These  are  average  figures,  and 
since  many  farms  with  varying  amounts  of  labor  per  load  were  in- 
volved it  is  unsafe  to  conclude  from  these  data  alone  that  there  is  a 
relationship  between  the  amount  of  manure  hauled  and  the  labor  used 
per  load.  When,  however,  the  records  were  grouped  on  the  basis  of 
the  relative  amount  of  labor  used  per  load  during  the  months  in  which 
the  greatest  and  the  least  amounts  of  manure  were  hauled,  the  conclu- 
sion was  shown  to  be  justified.  It  was  found  that  on  76  percent  of  the 
130  farms  on  which  manure  was  hauled  during  both  August  and  May, 
less  labor  per  load  was  required  during  May  than  during  August. 
Similar  comparisons  of  April  and  July,  April  and  August,  April  and 
September,  and  May  and  September  showed  that  on  66,  72,  64,  and  64 
percent  of  the  farms,  respectively,  the  labor  requirement  per  load  was 
least  during  the  spring,  when  the  greatest  amount  of  manure  was 
hauled. 


TABLE  10. — MAN  AND  HORSE  LABOR  USED  IN  HAULING  62,884  LOADS  OF  MANURE 

ON  224  DAIRY  FARMS 


Month 

Loads 
of 
manure 

MAN  LABOR 

HORSE  LABOR 

Total 
hours 

Percent 
of 
total 

Hours 
per 
load 

Total 
hours 

Percent 
of 
total 

Hours 
per 
load 

Jan  

4  778 
5  520 
8  295 
11  580 
8  711 
1  857 
2  223 
5  363 
2  847 
2  474 
4  245 
4  991 

5  170.75 
6  050.75 
8  469.75 
10  599.50 
7  721.00 
1  906.25 
2  910.25 
6  596.00 
3  684.75 
2  725.75 
4  870.00 
5  530.00 

7.8 
9.1 
12.8 
16.0 
11.7 
2.9 
4.4 
10.0 
5.5 
4.1 
7.4 
8.3 

1.08 
1.10 
1.02 
.92 
.89 
1.03 
1.31 
1.23 
1.29 
1.10 
1.15 
1.11 

10  447.75 
11  788.50 
17  630.00 
22  985.75 
16  878.25 
3  928.50 
5  878.50 
14  039.25 
7  431.00 
5  508.75 
10  072.50 
11  104.00 

7.6 
8.6 
12.8 
16.7 
12.2 
2.8 
4.3 
10.2 
5.4 
4.0 
7.3 
8.1 

2.19 
2.14 
2.13 
1.98 
1.94 
2.12 
2.64 
2.62 
2.61 
2.23 
2.37 
2.22 

Feb  

Mar  

Apr  

May  

June  

July  .  . 

A 

AUK.  . 

Sept  .  . 

Oct  

Nov   . 

Dec  

Total  .  .  . 

62  884 

66  234.75 

100.0 

137  692.75 

100.0 

Average.  .  . 

5  240 

5  519.56 

1.05 

11  474  40 

2.19 

488 


BULLETIN  No.  240 


[July, 


The  smaller  amount  of  labor  used  per  load  during  the  months  of 
heaviest  hauling  was  largely  due  to  economy  of  time  in  harnessing 
and  loading.  Naturally,  less  time  per  load  was  consumed  in  harnessing 
the  teams  and  hitching  to  the  spreaders  when  the  entire  day  was  spent 
in  hauling  from  manure'  piles  which  had  accumulated  during  the 
winter,  than  was  consumed  when  the  manure  was  hauled  daily.  On 
many  farms  a  saving  in  labor  resulted  from  the  use  of  two  spreaders 
and  three  men,  the  third  man  helping  to  load. 

The  variation  among  the  different  farms  in  the  amounts  of  man 
and  horse  labor  used  per  load  of  manure  is  shown  in  Table  11.  On 
two-thirds  of  the  farms  studied,  between  0.7  and  1.3  hours  of  man  labor 
were  used  in  hauling  one  load  of  manure.  The  horse  labor  showed 
slightly  greater  variation,  ranging  from  1.4  to  3  hours  per  load  on 
three-fourths  of  the  farms. 

These  data  on  the  labor  costs  of  hauling  manure  are  included  in 
this  study  because  to  a  certain  extent  they  account  for  the  methods 


Per 
Cent 

220 
200 
180 
160 
MO 
120 
100 
60 
CO 
40 
20 

Ian  lak 
rlorse  I 
Loads  o 

or 
abor 

P  manu 

r-g    

y 

/ 

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/ 

/ 
/ 

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/ 

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i 
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m 

1 
1 

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v 

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x 

-z?^ 

^ 

T~  — 

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—  ~" 

Jon.      Feb      Mar      /April      May     June     July      /\ug.      Sept.    Oct.       Nov       Dec. 

FIG.  3. — RELATION  BETWEEN  AMOUNT  OF  MANURE  HAULED  DURING  THE  DIFFERENT 
MONTHS,  AND  THE  AMOUNTS  OF  MAN  AND  HORSE  LABOR  USED  PER  LOAD 


PRODUCTION  AND  UTILIZATION  OP  MANURE  ON  DAIRY  FARMS 


489 


TABLE  11. — SHOWING  How  THE  AMOUNTS  OP  MAN  AND  HORSE  LABOR  USED  PER 
LOAD  OF  MANURE  VARIED  ON  224  DAIRY  FARMS 


Man  labor 
per  load 

Number 
of   farms 

Horse  labor 
per  load 

Number 
of  farms 

0.3  to  0.5  hours  .... 

3 

0.6  to  1.0  hours  

6 

0.5  to  0.7  hours  .... 

23 

1.0  to  1.4  hours.  .  .  . 

19 

0.7  to  0.9  hours  .... 

65 

1.4  to  1.8  hours.  .  .  . 

39 

0.9  to  1.1  hours  

59 

1.8  to  2.2  hours  

51      . 

1.1  to  1.3  hours  

28 

2.2  to  2.6  hours  

47 

1.3  to  1.5  hours.  .  .  . 

12 

2.6  to  3.0  hours  

26 

1.5  to  1.7  hours.  .  .  . 

9 

3.0  to  3.4  hours  

14 

1.7  to  1.9  hours  

12 

3.4  to  3.'8  hours  

11 

1.9  to  2.1  hours  

5 

3.8  to  4.2  hours  

3 

2.1  to  2.3  hours  

3 

4.2  to  4.6  hours  

4 

2.3  to  2.5  hours  

1 

4.6  to  5.0  hours  .... 

1 

2.5  to  2.7  hours  

2 

5.0  to  5.4  hours  .... 

1 

2.7  to  2.9  hours  

1 

5.4  to  5.8  hours.  .  .  . 

1 

2.9  to  3.1  hours  

.  _ 

5.8  to  6.2  hours  

_ 

3.1  to  3.3  hours  

1 

6.2  to  6.6  hours  

1 

of  handling  manure  which  prevailed  on  the  farms  studied.  On  most 
of  these  farms  so  much  labor  was  required  to  haul  and  spread  a  load 
of  manure  that  to  have  hauled  it  daily  as  it  was  produced  would  have 
been  impractical  during  the  cropping  season. 


\IMA 

JiH^1 
/.I./, Li. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


